Hydrogen energy is the most sustainable source of energy known to man. Though Earth has a seemingly limitless supply of hydrogen trapped in water molecules, industrial size production and storage of it has remained costly and dangerous. Reduced graphene oxide (rGO) shows great potential as a storage vessel for hydrogen while acting as a “catchers’ glove” for hydrogen when it is split from water. Where others have tried to store hydrogen in rGO by having it surrounded by hydrogen gas, I will attempt to directly attract hydrogen to rGO by taking advantage of hydrogen’s electrical attraction to rGO once it is split from water via electrolysis. This technique, paired with a novel method of preparation of the working cathode , could increase hydrogen storage in rGO that has not been achieved; furthering its potential as a safe, cost effective, and reversible hydrogen storage vessel.

The creation and evolution of elements, as a function of age, throughout the Milky Way disk provides a key constraint for galaxy evolution models. In an effort to provide these constraints, we have conducted an investigation into the rapid and slow-process neutron capture elemental abundances, which are created in supernovae, for a large sample of open clusters. Stars were identified as cluster members by the Open Cluster Chemical Abundance & Mapping (OCCAM) survey, which culls member candidates by Doppler velocity, metallicity, and proper motion from the observed OCCAM sample. We’ve obtained new data for neutron-capture elements in these clusters using the Subaru Observatory 8-m telescope in Hawaii with the High Dispersion Spectrograph (HDS). We are analyzing the neutron capture abundances in star clusters to measure the chemical evolution of the Milky Way.

In recent times, nanomaterials have attracted interest in the scientific community due to their capacity for drug/gene delivery as well as their ability to target tissues and serve as probes for delivery pathways through various bioimaging approaches. Nanomaterial-based imaging systems in the near-infrared (NIR) region are desirable in vivo due to low biological autofluorescence, low tissue scattering, and increased penetration depth in animal tissue. However, low biocompatibility, as well as complexity in preparation, impede many current NIR imaging platforms from biomedical applications. In order to rectify this issue, we developed biocompatible NIR emitting graphene quantum dots (GQDs) and tested them for imaging in animal tissues. GQDs injected into mice intravenously through the tail vein show NIR emission in multiple organs including the intestine, kidney, spleen, and liver. Localization of both quantum dots in these organs was verified through the NIR fluorescence microscopy of organ slices, taken at multiple time points (1, 3, 6, 24 hours) via hyperspectral fluorescence microscopy. Slices in the 6 hour time point show the strongest fluorescence and characteristic GQD spectral signatures at ~950 nm compared to none in the control slices. These results indicate that GQDs show promising potential for future applications in theranostics, for instance as imaging or image-guided drug delivery agents.

Fifty percent of stars in the night sky are actually binary star systems, but finding and characterizing them require significant data, time, and analysis. Studying the brighter star of the pair is fairly straightforward, but the secondary is commonly hidden. Using the infrared spectroscopy data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey combined with The Joker, a new Monte Carlo analysis technique, we are working to reveal and characterize these hidden binary stars.

Introduction: Helicopter parenting, a parenting style defined by high parental control and warmth, (has been shown to negatively impact college age students through higher rates of depression and anxiety (Lubbe, 2018; Padilla-Walker & Nelson, 2012). Further, helicopter parenting may inhibit college students’ academic performance (Love, 2019) and feelings of success (Deci & Ryan, 2012). Overparenting has also been associated with maladaptive traits in adult children, including a sense of entitlement (Segrin, 2012). The goal of the current study is to explore the mediating role of self-efficacy in relationship between helicopter parenting and college student outcomes. It is hypothesized that helicopter parenting will increase depressive symptoms, decrease well-being, and increase students’ sense of entitlement.
Methods: Six-hundred sixty-five undergraduate psychology students were recruited through SONA to participate in the study at two Southern private universities. Participants answered a battery of online questionnaires about their interactions and relationships with their parent, reporting on their perceptions of their parents’ helicopter parenting behaviors, family environment, and personality. Students also completed questionnaires about their personality, mental health, academic achievement, and substance use.
Results: In order to test Lubbe and colleagues (2018) proposed four-factor helicopter parenting model, a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed in MPlus version 8 (Muthén & Muthén, 2001-2014). The four subscales of the Bifactor Model of Helicopter parenting were used as indicators for the latent variable, Helicopter parenting, and was the hypothesized confirmatory factor analysis model. Based on Hu and Bentler’s (1999) criteria for adequate model fit, results of the CFA indicated the model had good fit, χ2 (2) = .720¸ p ≤ .001; RMSEA ≤ .001, 90% Confidence Intervals (CI) [≤.001,.005]; CFI = 1.00; SRMR = .005. To test the relationship between helicopter parenting and college student outcomes and the mediating role of self-efficacy, a structural regression model was performed with the ML estimator and 10,000 bootstraps. Results of the first model indicated good fit, χ2 (17) = 34.72¸ p = .007; RMSEA = .040, 90% Confidence Intervals (CI) [.020,.058]; CFI = .989; SRMR = .021. The indirect paths through self-efficacy from helicopter parenting to psychological entitlement (95% CI: [-.45, -.06]), academic entitlement, (95% CI: [.16, .71]) depressive symptoms (95% CI: [.37, 1.42]), and subjective well-being (95% CI: [-.16, -.05]), were all significant. Therefore, as helicopter parenting increases, self-efficacy decreases, which predicts lower levels of psychological entitlement and subjective well-being and higher levels of depressive symptoms and academic entitlement.
Discussion: Helicopter parenting behavior during the college years is not developmentally appropriate for parents to engage in and has been associated with negative outcomes for their college-aged child. The main goal of the study was to examine the relationship between helicopter parenting and college student outcomes and the mediating role of self-efficacy. Results of the current study support previous findings which suggest helicopter parenting has been associated with lower levels of mental health and well-being and higher rates of entitlement. The results also indicate that the relationship between helicopter parenting and student outcomes is mediated by self-efficacy.